Laundry ERE style

jzt83 · Post by **jzt83** » Sat Sep 01, 2012 3:35 pm

Electric washing machines and dyers require a boatload of electricity, which equals $$$. I already line dry my washing, but I will start handwashing my clothes. Do you prefer using a laundry board, a plunger or walking over your clothes in a bathtub with soapy water?

riparian · Post by **riparian** » Sat Sep 01, 2012 5:15 pm

Plunger. I also do the move where you pick the clothes up and rub them against each other.

EMJ · Post by **EMJ** » Sat Sep 01, 2012 8:11 pm

This site (http://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/laundry.html) suggests cost/load is $1.34.
Considering the time to hand wash and the fact that you still use water and have to heat the water I wonder how much you actually save?

riparian · Post by **riparian** » Sun Sep 02, 2012 5:34 am

The water comes out of the river for free, the woodstove is burning anyways, and it costs a lot more than $1.34 to go to the laundromat.

JohnnyH · Post by **JohnnyH** » Sun Sep 02, 2012 4:04 pm

Dyers are expensive (heating), washing machine is pretty much just an electric motor and not that expensive.

Using the site EMJ linked, washing machine costs me $7 a year not using a dryer. Dryer would be about 10 times that.
I'd pay $7/yr to avoid having to actually do my laundry by hand.

rcamp · Post by **rcamp** » Sun Sep 02, 2012 5:10 pm

In my case a blend.
First reduce the issue at hand. I don't wash 90% of my clothes after one use. Shirts, pants, usually wait 7-10 uses before they get put in the hamper. ( white collar job ). Socks and under garments Typically 2-3 uses or days.
Washing machine in my case is dirt cheap compared to my HVAC. I would kill to line dry but two things prevent that : HOA says no clothes lines ( although I've done drying racks without issue ) and summer humidity here makes drying outside a Sisyphus like adventure.
Add to that, my dryer is gas. Summer months my gas bill is 15Usd/ month ( water heater and clothes dryer is gas ). Cheap and easy.
The last apartment I had was all electric, and specifically I recall that power bill was really inexpensive... Iirc maybe $75/ month in the hottest parts of summer ( southeast us ). The dryer at that time was electric and had an exhaust to the outside of maybe 6 inches, and everything finished fast. I'm thinking efficiency here...
yMMV

JohnnyH · Post by **JohnnyH** » Sun Sep 02, 2012 6:07 pm

@rcamp: Ridiculous HOA... I know CO passed a law forbidding HOAs from dictating no clotheslines.
I often dry my clothes inside, even when it's raining outside. I put them on hangers and hang them on the insides of windows over heaters, so on. They always get dry.

rcamp · Post by **rcamp** » Sun Sep 02, 2012 7:12 pm

Nod. NC law says HOA can't make rules about alternative energy ( wind, solar ) but clothes lines? Nope.
So I can drop $20k in solar panels at my leisure, but a clothesline? Heretic!
Heh. I know this isn't the only city/state with silliness like that. But it's where I am

TravelingTrader · Post by **TravelingTrader** » Sun Sep 02, 2012 10:58 pm

5 years ago I bought a used electric washing machine from ebay for 60€. I never owned a dryer. Drying in the air need usually 1-3 days indoor.

Works well and I wash once a week just my own cloth.

anomie · Post by **anomie** » Mon Sep 03, 2012 12:30 am

I line dry and rack dry both inside and outside, but do use a washing machine.
Does anyone have use for hot water cycles (in case of machine) or hot water (in case not) to wash clothes, or is cold/cold sufficient for all needs?
Been reading some stuff that suggests that hot water for bedsheets and underwear is not a bad idea, germ wise.
Any opinions? Any factual sources?

anomie · Post by **anomie** » Mon Sep 03, 2012 12:34 am

And here is last year's post on the topic, though it does not address my question, but does give a few other's opinions on general Laundry topic:
viewtopic.php?t=1331#post-17752

rcamp · Post by **rcamp** » Mon Sep 03, 2012 1:59 am

Cold/cold works here and also SO approved. Hygiene wise, germs etc - it's never been an issue.

ICouldBeTheWalrus · Post by **ICouldBeTheWalrus** » Mon Sep 03, 2012 5:00 pm

I like warm or hot for bed sheets and towels. It keeps them white longer, and they seem to feel better (more absorbent). I use cold water for everything else.

LiquidSapphire · Post by **LiquidSapphire** » Mon Sep 03, 2012 5:55 pm

I used to read this blog written by a woman who raised a huge family spending less than $1000/month and she used this product instead of a washer: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002C8 ... B002C8HR9A
She line dried everything.
She said that it was true the parts were sort of cheap but that they should hold up if you use as directed.

prosaic · Post by **prosaic** » Mon Sep 03, 2012 6:37 pm

Was that Emily and Dan (Dna)?
I wash for a family of 5, including a toddler who makes a mess of every front of the shirt/bib/pants. So handwashing won't happen, but one $120 investment we made was this: http://www.laundry-alternative.com/prod ... Dryer.html
The sheer volume of water it spins out is extraordinary. Line drying is so much faster, and machine drying for an x-large load is about 25 minutes (used to be just over an hour).
Well worth it.

KevinW · Post by **KevinW** » Mon Sep 03, 2012 8:15 pm

I like warm or hot for bed sheets and towels. It keeps them white longer, and they seem to feel better (more absorbent). I use cold water for everything else.

Same here.

m741 · Post by **m741** » Tue Sep 04, 2012 3:54 am

My previous apartment had a washer+dryer on the premises, for use for free. So that was the obvious choice.
My current apartment has neither. I bought a small personal washing machine ($200), which I've been very satisfied with. It handles a load of ~10 undershirts, or a towel and a few shirts, without problems, but larger than that won't work. It plugs into a regular outlet+faucet, and it's light enough for two people to comfortably carry.
I got a drying rack from Ikea and dry with that. For work clothes, I dry them all normally, then take a huge garbage bag with 10 (already dry) work shirts and 4-5 pairs of pants to the local laundry place, and put them all in the dryer for 10-15 minutes ($.50), to get the wrinkles out. Been considering getting an iron but haven't been able to find one used. Monthly expenses are thus $2 for drying, $1 or so for cheap detergent, and I would guess $4-5 in hot water/electricity.
Overall I'm happy with this. It's very cheap, discounting the initial laundry machine expense, and it doesn't wear the clothes as much, since most of them air dry. The only downside is remembering that I have to schedule laundromat trips so I have unwrinkled shirts available.

Myakka · Post by **Myakka** » Tue Nov 20, 2012 12:16 am

I have hang dried our clothes for years -- usually inside. When I lived by myself I strung a clothesline around the back room. Later when my husband and I lived in an apartment -- where putting in a nail anywhere was next to impossible -- I dried our clothes on racks on the balcony. (It was covered and didn't get wet even when it rained.)
Now that we are living in a small house those racks are in an extra bedroom.
My favorite laundry tip is that vinegar (the cheap white stuff) is a good fabric softener.

irukandjisting · Post by **irukandjisting** » Tue Nov 20, 2012 2:18 am

@ Myakka - why not just hang your clothes on an ordinary outside line ?? - it's free and the sun and wind dries your clothes better

FrugalZen · Post by **FrugalZen** » Tue Nov 20, 2012 4:38 pm

Well I tend to hand wash things...being just me in the house...for drying I got another shower curtain rod and installed it out of the way above the shower nozzle in the center of the bathtub...hang the clothes on heavy plastic hangers and let them drip dry over the tub...and when there dry I can hang them directly in the closet.